Pole gripper for ladders



March 12, 1935, R, H, RISSER 1,994,369

POLE GRIPPER FOR LADDERS Filed April 26, 1933 INVENTOR KTTORNEY Patented Mar. 12, 1935 I r 1,994,369

UNITED s'rArss e roLr: GRIPPER FOR LADDERS Roy H. Kisser, West Hazleton, Pa, assignor to H. F. Husted Company, Hazleton, Pa., a partnership composed of A. Ernest Shafer and Roy H. Risser Application April 26, 1933, Serial No. 668,126

4,0laims. (01. 228-61) "This invention relates generally to ladders and or gripper member disposed near the upper end particularly to means associated with a ladder of the ladder, the said gripper being swingingly structure whereby to stabilize the ladder when mounted andso shaped as to conform substanapplied to, telephone or electric light poles, trees tially to a circular or near circular object or sup- ,5 or infact any surface of relatively small diamport. The gripper member is free to swing or eter against which it has heretofore-been found oscillate in order that automatic adaptability of ,difiicult to properly stabilize or support the ordithe gripper to the supporting surface may be asnary rung ladder. 7' sured. The grippermember is so balanced as A further object of the invention is to provide to normally maintain a position such as will 10 an attachmentfor application to the ordinary bring the same into proper and positive securing 10 ladder having parallel or near parallel side bars engagement with the support when the ladder is to adapt the same for application to poles or leanedagainst the samewith its side members posts, thus obviating the necessity of ladders straddling said support. The gripper member is especiallyconstructed for such uses. p ovi d W means where y u engagement A further object of the invention is to provide between the gripper and support is assured, in 15 a ladder attachment for the purposes set forth order to p revent slippage, after the ladder has of such character that the stabilizer automationce been applied to the object. 7 cally adapts or adjusts itself to the pole or post Referringnow more particularly to the drawand maintainsthe upper end-of the ladder in ing the conventional ladder is represented as proper stabilized position. having parallel or substantially parallel side 20 A still further object is to provide a device of members 2- 3, the uppermost rung of the ladder the character stated which may form a part of being; indicated at 1. T -g ipp r ip es nt d theladder asoriginally constructed or which may generallyat 4 while covering for the same is be applied to ladders now in use with little or no indicated at 5. The gripper member per se condifiiculty and without the aid of special skill or sists of a metallic bar somewhat less in length 25 tools; which may be manufactured at extremely than the distance between the side members low cost, which is of simple construction, which 2+3, and this bar is bent into such shape as will in no way interferes with the use of the ladder enable the same to properly and snugly embrace in other environments, which is so constructed or engage with a tree, pole or post. The gripper and assembled as to obviate the possibility of bar may take the form of a yoke substantially as 30 breakage or derangement, which requires no'adshown, being bent intermediate its ends to projustment or attention after once being applied, vide an apex with divergent substantially straight and which will prove highly practical and effiarms projecting therefrom. By so shaping this cient in operation. element, it is at once apparent that the bar will With these objects in view, together with others substantially correspond and adapt itself to cir- 35 which will appear as the description proceeds, cular or near circular objects such as poles, posts the invention consists in the novel construction, and trees. The covering 5 may be of rubber, combination and arrangement of parts, all as leather, fabric or any other material offering will be described more fully hereinafter, illusfrictional resistance.

40 trated in the drawing and particularly pointed It is preferred that the gripper member thus 40 out in the claims. formed be positioned and supported between the In the drawing: ladder sides so as to normally have its apex por- Fig. l is an elevation of the upper end of a tion disposed downwardly, in order that the same conventional ladder having parallel sides and ilmay automatically adapt itself to a substantially lustrating as applied thereto a ladder or gripper cylindrical surface by merely causing the upper constructed in accordance with the invention, end of the ladder sides to straddle such object. parts being broken away to show the detail con- Therefore, the yoke is pivoted or suspended in struction, such manner that the bulk of its weight is dis- Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one posed below the pivotal supports. This function of the socket members used in attaching the gripmay be accomplished by having the extremities of per to the ladder, and the yoke arms pivotally attached to the ladder Fig. 3 is a similar View showing the gripper sides, or pintles 9 may be provided near the ends member detached from the ladder and with the of the yoke arms. The pintles 9 are preferably covering removed. formed integral with the bar itself and are dis- In general, the invention resides in an adapter posed in parallel alignment with each other and 55 project outwardly from the said yoke arms slightly inwardly from the extremities thereof. The ends of these pintles are rotatably supported within socket members 10 carried by base plates 6 secured to the inner faces of the ladder sides by having bolts 7 pass through suitable openings 8 in said plates as well as through the ladder sides. By thus mounting the yoke or gripper member it is apparent that the same is free to rotate in a direction parallel to the ladder rungs, whereby to insure automatic adaptability of r the gripper member with a pole or post. As the greater part of the gripper bar 4 is disposed below the horizontal plane of the pintles 9, the gripper member will normally assume a position with its apex downward so that the said yoke or gripper member is at all times in proper position for engagement with a support straddled by the ladder sides. By constructing the gripper member inthis manner, substantially the entire space between the inner faces of the ladder sides is spanned by the arm portions of the gripper, thus enabling the device to properly rest upon and grip with poles, trees or posts of a wide range of diameters,'or practically to any diameter up to the depths between the ladder sides. When the ladder is applied to flat surfaces, such as walls,

the gripper will remain in its normal position with apex downward and thus oflers no interference to usual ladder operations.

From the foregoing it is obvious that I have provided a pole gripper for ladders of extremely simple construction and which will adequately accomplish the various result s for which it is designed. The ordinary rung ladder provided with an attachment of this character obviates the necessity of providing a ladder of special construction heretofore adopted and used in connection with poles and trees, and particularly poles or posts of metal such as are commonly used as electric light and trolley poles. f r

While the foregoing is a description of the invention in its preferred embodiments, it is never- 1,994,369 theless to be understood that variations in the structural details and manner of assemblage may be resorted to without departing from the invention as defined by the claims. 3 1

Having thus described my invention, I claim:--.- 1. In a ladder structure, a gripper interposed between thesides of the ladder and comprising a rigid support engaging yoke,.aligned pintles extending laterally from the yoke and. pivotally 1 secured to the side members of the ladder, the

yoke being constructed and arranged to move about its pivots to straddle the ladder support 7 thereby securing the ladder against lateral movement relative to the support. l

2. Ina ladder structure, a gripper interposed between the sides of the ladder and comprising a rigid V-shaped ladder support engaging yoke, aligned pintles extending laterally from the yoke j and 'pivotally secured to the side members of the; ladder, the yoke being constructed and arranged to move about its pivots to straddle the ladder support thereby securing the ladder against lateral movement relative to the support.

'3. In a ladder structure, a rigid one-pieceyoke interposed between the sides ofthe ladder, a.

socket member secured to each'side member of q the laddenaligned pintles extending from the yoke and pivotally supported by the sockets to ladder sides to 

